The present disclosure relates generally to oil and gas exploration systems and more particularly to tools for sampling formation fluid.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Wells are generally drilled into a surface (land-based) location or ocean bed to recover natural deposits of oil and natural gas, as well as other natural resources that are trapped in geological formations in the Earth's crust. A well may be drilled using a drill bit attached to the lower end of a “drill string,” which includes a drillpipe, a bottom hole assembly, and other components that facilitate turning the drill bit to create a borehole. Drilling fluid, or “mud,” is pumped down through the drill string to the drill bit during a drilling operation. The drilling fluid lubricates and cools the drill bit, and it carries drill cuttings back to the surface through an annulus between the drill string and the borehole wall.
For oil and gas exploration, it may be desirable to have information about the subsurface formations that are penetrated by a borehole. More specifically, this may include determining characteristics of fluids stored in the subsurface formations. As used herein, fluid is meant to describe any substance that flows. Fluids stored in the subsurface formations may include formation fluids, such as natural gas or oil. Thus, a fluid sample representative of the formation fluid maybe taken by a downhole tool and analyzed. As used herein, a representative fluid sample is intended to describe a sample that has relatively similar characteristics (e.g., composition and state) to the formation fluid to facilitate determining characteristics of the formation fluid.